Samuel Ochieng

Fighting in and around Moyale has continued in seven districts along the border between Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regional states, The Eastleigh Voice reported, citing Addis Standard. The worst clashes are in Areero district, around the Dawa River basin. The river flows through Borana zone in Oromia and Dawa zone in the Somali region. The conflict broke out in Moyale town on October 18. It followed a dispute over the raising of a flag and the killing of a 13-year-old girl. According to the report, the fighting has caused casualties, displaced thousands and disrupted livelihoods. A Southern Oromia security official told Addis Standard that the clashes were continuing. He said they had grown much heavier at night in Moyale town. Community leaders fear the fighting could block an important Borana Gadaa ritual. The Abba Gada is due to travel from Dirree to Liban next month for customary rites, part of the institution's eight-year cycle. Borana Abba Gada Guyyoo Boruu said heavy fighting was continuing at Malkaa Mana Waaqaa and Eela Orbaa. Both lie on that route. The security official confirmed that the route had been blocked. The two sides tell different stories. Guyyoo said the fighting was part of a wider…

The Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) has suspended the loading of all cargo that requires the Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) new electronic cargo seals. In a statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke on Wednesday, KTA told members to stop immediately any loading that involves user-owned multi-vendor Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) seals. On Thursday, the Daily Nation reported that Mombasa port operations face disruption as cargo transporters down tools. The dispute is about who pays. KTA says KRA has passed the cost of mandatory customs cargo monitoring to transporters. The association calls this unfair and commercially unsustainable. "The Kenya Transporters Association Ltd (KTA) strongly opposes the Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) decision to transfer the cost of mandatory customs cargo monitoring to transporters," it said. KTA also told members not to buy or lease seals, or sign contracts with seal providers, until KRA approves a sustainable cost-recovery deal. According to the association, KRA has set up no way for transporters to recover the extra costs through sustainable tax terms.…

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have detained dozens of medical and academic staff in Sudan's West Darfur region, the Sudan Tribune reported on Thursday. Only the headline of the report was available to Dondoo. It did not give…

Mozambique is pouring billions of dollars into its three main trade corridors. President Daniel Chapo said about $4.5 billion of investment is underway in the Nacala corridor, in the northern province of Nampula. He gave the figures on Wednesday at the opening of the Transport and Logistics Investment Exhibition Forum (TRANS-LOG MOZ 2026), the AIM news agency reported via AllAfrica. Chapo said $2 billion of investment is underway in the Maputo corridor. More than $1 billion has been earmarked for the Beira corridor, in the central province of Sofala. He said the money aims to modernise transport and logistics infrastructure and make the economy more competitive. It should also consolidate Mozambique's position as a vital logistics hub for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Each corridor has its own projects. In Maputo, the work covers upgrading the Port of Maputo, National Road Number 4 (EN4) and border infrastructure, including the link with South Africa. In Beira, the plans include the Dondo dry port and border links, with…

The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) says a fault on an underground 132-kilovolt transmission line is behind unreliable power in southern Dar es Salaam, Mwananchi reported. The fault struck at Gongo la Mboto on Tuesday, November 3. It has disrupted supply in Mbagala, Kigamboni, Mkuranga and Kibiti. Irene Gowelle, Tanesco's director of communications and customer service, briefed reporters on Thursday. She said the fault hit the underground cable that carries power from the Gongo la Mboto station to the Mbagala and Dege substations. Because it came suddenly, the utility could not warn customers in advance. As an emergency measure, Tanesco switched customers to another line to keep power flowing. That backup line is the problem, according to Zakaria Mgalama, Tanesco's deputy managing director for transmission. He said it has less capacity than the damaged line. As a result, some areas face load cuts when demand peaks, mainly during the day. At night, demand drops and all customers get power back. Mgalama said technicians are still working on the…

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has picked his strongest side to face Italy in Turin on Saturday, Daily Maverick reported. The team is largely the one that beat the All Blacks 3-1 in the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series. Many had expected Erasmus to try new combinations against Italy, with Tests against France and Ireland still to come. The Springboks have six uncapped players in their 37-man touring group, and none made the team. Daily Maverick said they are there to learn the team culture and get used to the Test environment. Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada faces the opposite problem, with 17 players out injured. Ten Japan-based players are in the matchday 23. They have not played since the RGR series ended on September 12, so the match gives them time on the pitch. The Boks are also still stinging from a 42-38 loss to the Wallabies in Perth six weeks ago. Erasmus made wholesale changes for that game. Erasmus said the next three matches are "vital" if South Africa…

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña announced his resignation in a video on Thursday. The banking crisis that brought him down has locked millions of people out of their savings, The Guardian reported. The 47-year-old economist took power in August 2023. His term was due to run until 2028. At the heart of the crisis is Ueno Bank. According to The Guardian, it grew under Peña from an obscure digital bank into one of the country's largest lenders. It claimed about 60% of Paraguay's adult population as customers. On Monday, the central bank put Ueno into resolution over insolvency. The move froze the deposits of 3 million customers. Hundreds of thousands of families were left with no money for food and basic daily costs. Bank executives were arrested, and people poured into the streets in large protests. The central bank granted Ueno a digital banking licence at the end of 2023, under Peña's government. The bank came to manage between $800 million and $850 million in deposits from state and pension bodies, including retirement funds. Critics saw a conflict of interest because Peña once held shares in Ueno Holding. Peña said he had made only an "investment" and had since sold all his shares. He dismissed press reports of favouritism as a "false media campaign". The bank also sponsored the national football team. On Wednesday, the players issued a letter demanding a "forceful response" from the government and the courts.…

Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka's convoy came under attack in Migori County on Thursday during a campaign tour of Nyanza. According to the Daily Nation, a group of youths threw stones at his team before police fired teargas. Photos showed several vehicles with windows shattered by stones, The Eastleigh Voice reported. Kalonzo said the violence was planned. "I think the script is to throw stones and then throw tear gas," he said, according to The Eastleigh Voice. He said a handful of goons, no more than 10, started the stoning. He compared the attack to an earlier incident in Garissa. He also said his own vehicle was badly hit at the front and rear. The Wiper leader blamed what he called the "predator regime" and said the attack aimed to block peaceful assembly. He accused police of using excessive force at a peaceful meeting. Former Attorney General Justin Muturi said in a statement that "broad-based politicians" had sent the attackers. He linked them to ODM. The Wiper Patriotic Front asked the National Police Service to investigate and act against those responsible. No response from the police, the government or ODM was reported. The tour set out to promote Kalonzo's Ukombozi (Liberation) movement. He pitched himself as the opposition…

The High Court has declined to certify as urgent a petition seeking to bar President William Ruto's Cabinet from office, The Eastleigh Voice reported on Thursday. The petitioners wanted the court to stop 25 members of the national executive from presenting themselves as Cabinet members. They include Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and the Cabinet Secretaries. The refusal means the case will not be heard on a priority basis. Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah filed the case on Monday with activists Eliud Karanja Matindi and Dr Magare Gikenyi. They lodged it at the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court in Nairobi. According to the Daily Nation, the 25 officials are the President, the Deputy President, the Attorney-General and 22 Cabinet Secretaries. The petitioners want them stopped from performing official duties. They also want the Controller of Budget barred from approving their salaries and benefits. The case builds on a June 30 judgment. The court found that the Cabinet broke the constitutional rule that no gender should hold more than two-thirds of seats in an appointive body. Of the 25 members, 18 were men and seven were women, the Nation reported. That left the Cabinet two short of the nine women required. The court gave the President 120 days to make compliant appointments. The deadline expired on October 28. The petitioners say…

Somalia's Supreme Court has ruled that the one-year extension of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's term was unlawful. The court's five-member Constitutional Division issued the ruling in Mogadishu on Thursday, Garowe Online reported. It found that the mandates of the president, the federal government and both houses of parliament had already run out in 2026. The court set out the expiry dates. Parliament's and the federal government's mandates ended on April 14, 2026, Garowe Online reported. Mohamud's term ended on May 15, 2026. The judges declared every action the institutions took after those dates unconstitutional, unlawful, and null and void. The court's reasoning turned on how the 2026 constitutional amendments were drafted. According to Garowe Online, the judges said any amendment introducing new terms of office must state clearly whether it applies to sitting institutions. The 2026 changes did not. The four-year terms under the 2012 Provisional Constitution therefore still applied. The case came from a petition by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The court threw out his challenge to the amendment process itself, ruling that he lacked legal standing. It upheld his second claim, against the extension of the mandates. The court said the federal government may stay on as a caretaker, but only to run routine business. It ordered all parties involved in the electoral process…

One in four adolescents aged 11 to 17 say they had no active days in the previous week, according to new global estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO counts an active day as at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. Extrapolated, the findings amount to some 240 million young people, the UN health agency said. The study was published in The Lancet Global Health. It draws on hundreds of population-based surveys from 140 countries and territories, covering more than 3.2 million teens. On average, the adolescents said they were active 2.7 days a week. Only 14 percent said they were active on all seven days. Girls are far less active than boys in almost every country and region, the WHO found. Some 28 percent of girls reported no active days, compared with 22 percent of boys. Only 11 percent of girls said they were active every day, against 17 percent of boys. Results vary widely between countries. In Namibia, Nepal and the Philippines, 40 percent of adolescents reported no active days. In Bangladesh and Serbia, more than 30 percent of…

The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has provisionally suspended national 400m record holder Mercy Adongo Oketch, The Eastleigh Voice reported. She is one of four Kenyan athletes named in the agency's latest register, published on Thursday. The other three are distance runners Justus Muasya, Shadrack Kenduiywo Kipkurui and Lameck Kibiwott Too. According to the register, Oketch and Muasya were suspended on October 26. The suspensions of Kenduiywo and Too took effect on Wednesday. Oketch's case involves trimetazidine and furosemide. Muasya and Kenduiywo are listed for erythropoietin (EPO). Kibiwott's case involves methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta, better known as CERA. EPO and CERA boost the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. Trimetazidine is a drug used to treat some heart conditions. Furosemide is a diuretic that increases urine production. The register names the substances but does not say whether the athletes used them deliberately. It also gives no details of the circumstances of the alleged violations. Oketch is the biggest name on the list. She set the…

Equity Group sharply increased the business it gave to women-owned enterprises last year. The lender spent KSh 3.7 billion on their products and services, according to its 2025 Sustainability Report. In 2024 it spent KSh 923.5 million, KBC Digital reported. The bank's total procurement spending rose 12.2% year-on-year, from KSh 47 billion in 2024 to KSh 52.8 billion. Of that total, KSh 47.6 billion went to local suppliers. That is a 14.7% rise on the KSh 41.5 billion it spent locally in 2024. The local share of procurement grew from 88% to 90%. Youth-led enterprises also won more business. Their supplies and services to the bank rose 75% to KSh 491.1 million in the year to December 2025, up from KSh 280.7 million. The lender said it buys locally to support local economies, create jobs…

Tanzania presented its human rights record to the United Nations in Geneva on Thursday, Mwananchi reported. Constitution and Legal Affairs Minister Abdallah Ulega led the presentation. He spoke at the fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), run by the UN Human Rights Council. The government said 7.9 million citizens had received legal aid. Courts on the mainland had cut their case backlog from about 10% to 5%, the government said. The average time to finish a case dropped from 95 days to 66. In Zanzibar, the backlog fell from 43% to 18%, according to the presentation. Technology was another focus. The government said digital courts and online hearings had concluded more than 170,000 cases. It said 66 prisons are now linked to the courts online. That makes court services easier to reach for prisoners and remand detainees. On democracy, the government pointed to national talks with political parties. A task force on…